The air still crackled, but a different kind of electricity settled around Valeria. Her gauntlet was a dead weight. Her data streams were gone. Zapdos's white eyes held hers, a silent, waiting verdict.
Failure was a variable. It required recalibration, not surrender.
She looked at Franklin. One swift, direct glance. Her blue eyes were chips of ice, but the fire behind them was not anger. It was a renewed, steely determination. We are not done here. She saw him nod, a tiny, grim thing. Good. He understood.
Her first move was control. She retrieved Lunatone's Premier Ball from her belt, her fingers moving with a surgeon's precision. No wasted motion. No hesitation that could be read as doubt. A firm flick of her wrist, and a beam of red light lanced out, connecting with the still form on the floor. Lunatone dissolved into energy and vanished into the ball with a soft click.
The flash of retrieval light died in the charged air.
Across the cavern, Zapdos's energy field dimmed for a single, slow heartbeat. Its jagged form seemed to settle, the low hum of its power receding from a roar to a contemplative thrum. Its head tilted slightly, as if observing a concluded experiment. A point had been made. The intruders were chastened.
Valeria's voice cut through the momentary silence, sharp and clear as shattering glass.
"The battle is not over."
Zapdos's head snapped back up. Its piercing gaze fixed on her, the hum intensifying a fraction. It was a challenge accepted.
Her hand was already moving. Beldum's Premier Ball was in her palm, cool and familiar. She didn't throw it with flair. She simply opened it, her expression a mask of detached focus.
"Beldum. Emerge. Prepare for battle."
The silver and blue form materialized in a flash of white light. It didn't hover passively. It snapped into a ready position, its single red eye immediately locking onto the legendary bird. The air around it hummed with a different frequency—a disciplined, magnetic pulse. It didn't just hear her command. It felt the razor-sharp edge of her will, the absolute focus that demanded nothing less than perfect execution.
Valeria's mind was a tactical map. "Initial engagement: defensive probe. Use your magnetic field to disrupt its electrical aura at close range. Evade with lateral pulses, not direct flight. Your Steel typing gives you resistance. Exploit it. Counter with Iron Head on any opening, but do not overcommit."
Beldum shot forward. It wasn't a wild charge. It was a precise vector, a blur of controlled metallic motion. It zipped in close to Zapdos, its body emitting a sharp, localized magnetic pulse aimed at the crackling energy field.
Zapdos responded. Not with the focused Thunder that felled Lunatone, but with a casual, almost lazy sweep of its wing. A wide arc of Discharge filled the air, a net of lightning meant to snare and overwhelm.
Beldum juked. Its evasion was a series of sharp, ninety-degree turns, using magnetic repulsion against the floor and walls to change direction instantly. It was a beautiful, mechanical dance, a testament to Valeria's logic. It weaved through the lightning, closing the distance again.
"Good. Maintain pressure. Disrupt, evade, probe."
Beldum executed. It was a machine following flawless code. Iron Head. A solid, ringing clang as it struck Zapdos's shimmering field. The field held, but it rippled. A data point. Valeria filed it away.
Zapdos's next move was faster. A bolt lanced out, not wild, but aimed. Beldum twisted, but the edge of the electricity grazed its side. A shower of sparks erupted from the contact point. Beldum' flight stuttered for a microsecond before it corrected.
"Val, it's too much!" Franklin's voice was tight with worry. "You have to pull back! Beldum can't take that!"
Valeria didn't turn her head. Her gaze remained locked on the duel. She dismissed him with a sharp, almost imperceptible shake of her head. Franklin's concern was an emotional variable. It was noise. The tactical situation was clear: Beldum was executing the strategy. It was taking damage, but it was within calculated parameters. The logic was sound.
Beldum fought on. Another graze. A near-miss that scorched its metallic shell. But with each hit, its movements didn't slow; they grew sharper, more ferocious. It wasn't just obeying commands anymore. Valeria could see it—feel it, through the faint psychic link they shared. It was pouring every ounce of its being into each maneuver. It perceived her unwavering focus not just as a command, but as a demand for its absolute best. A deep-seated loyalty, a drive to prove itself to her, was fueling its discipline.
Then, it hit her.
Not an attack. A psychic feedback. Raw, unfiltered.
A wave of sensation flooded her mind, bypassing all her analytical filters. It wasn't data. It was a hot, sharp ache of mounting physical strain—the sting of electricity across its metal, the grind of overworked magnetic systems. And woven through the pain, brighter and fiercer, was a single, blazing thread: Protect her. Obey her. Prove worthy.
The sensation was a visceral punch to her gut. It was… illogical. Unquantifiable. It made her breath catch.
Her next command came out tight, strained by this new, unsettling internal data. "Beldum, disengage! Create distance, conserve energy!"
Beldum heard the tension in her voice. It misinterpreted the tightness not as a strategic adjustment, but as fear—her fear. The feedback loop of loyalty short-circuited the command. Retreat was not an option if she was in danger. It redoubled its efforts, ignoring her words, driving harder toward Zapdos in a furious, protective frenzy.
"Beldum, no! Fall back!"
Zapdos, perhaps bored with the disciplined dance, decided to end it. It gathered a concentrated ball of lightning between its wings.
Beldum saw the attack forming, saw it aimed not at itself, but on a trajectory that would pass dangerously close to where Valeria stood.
Logic evaporated. Instinct took over.
With a final, desperate pulse of magnetic energy, Beldum didn't evade. It charged. Not to attack Zapdos, but to place itself squarely between the legendary bird and its trainer.
The ball of lightning released.
A blinding, deafening impact.
Beldum didn't spin away. It was hit dead-on. The sound was a sickening, metallic CRUNCH-THUD. Its gleaming body went dark, a dead weight hurled through the air. It crashed to the corroded floor ten feet from Valeria and did not move.
Silence.
The hum of damaged machinery was the only sound. The Voltorb on the walls had gone dim.
Valeria stared.
"Beldum!"
***
Give power stones to support this book.
Advance chapters in P@T0n Najicablitz.